§ 7101. Short Title
TITLE 9: VEHICLE CODE DIVISION 7: SERIOUS TRAFFIC OFFENSES AND PENALTIES § 7101. Vehicle Identification. (a) Every person who knowingly buys, receives, disposes of, sells or offers for sale, or has in his possession any motor vehicle, or motor removed from a motor vehicle, from which the manufacturer’s serial or motor number or other distin- guishing number or identification mark or number placed thereon under assign- ment from the bureau has been removed, defaced, covered, altered or destroyed for the purpose of concealing or misrepresenting the identity of that motor vehicle or motor is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than 1,000 or by imprisonment of not less than 30 days or more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. (b) Every person who intentionally defaces, destroys, or alters the motor num- ber or other distinguishing number or identification mark of a vehicle required or employed for registration purposes without written authorization from the bureau, or who places or stamps any serial, motor or other number or mark upon a vehicle, except one assigned to the vehicle by the bureau, is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine of not less than 5,000 or by impris- onment of not less than one year nor more than five years, or by both such fine and imprisonment. (c) This section does not prohibit the restoration by an owner of an original motor, or other number or mark when such restoration is authorized by the bureau, nor prevent any manufacturer from placing in the ordinary course of business numbers or marks upon new motor vehicles or new parts thereof. (d) Every person who, with intent to defraud or with intent to misrepresent the same as issued by the bureau, alters, forges, counterfeits or falsifies any certifi- cate of ownership, registration card, certificate, license or special plate or permit mentioned in this division, or who alters, forges, counterfeits or falsifies with fraudulent intent any endorsement or transfer on a certificate of ownership, or who with fraudulent intent displays or causes or permits to be displayed or has in his or her possession any cancelled, suspended, revoked, altered, forged, counter- feited, or false certificate of ownership, registration card, certificate, license or special plate or permit mentioned in this division, or who utters, publishes, passes or attempts to pass, as true and genuine, any of the above-named false, altered, forged or counterfeited matters knowing the same to be false, altered, forged or counterfeited with intent to prejudice, damage or defraud any person is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine not to exceed $5,000 or by imprisonment of not less than one nor more than five years, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Source: PL 3-61, § 1 (§ 701).
Source: CNMI Law Revision Commission